Chapter Text
‘Welcome to Jrusar please may I see your identification or traveler’s pass?’.
Gregor stifled a yawn as he waited for the group in front of him to get their papers in order. The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon, but it was still light enough for him to see this particular group were rather beat up. Most of them were covered in scrapes of some kind, and their clothes looked like they’d been dragged through a few forest floors. If he had to take a guess he’d wager they’d been out of civilisation for at least a week, not that it was any of his business.
After a few moments, the gruff looking earth genasi shoved some cards into his hands. As he looked over them, Gregor’s eyebrows lifted in surprise.
‘You lot are with ‘Bell’s Hells?’.
One of the group, a pale woman with purple hair, gave a nod, ‘‘Well we only joined up recently but yes’.
‘Alright’, continuing to flick through the cards, he gave a casual glance over the group. He knew the guild produced some strange folk but, he thought to himself, these might take the biscuit.
Aside from the earth genasi and human girl, there seemed to be a woman with goat legs who was talking to a halfling man and from the blue tinge to the skin what he assumed could only be an air genasi. Then there was a crotetchy looking gnome, muttering something to a pale woman who looked like death warmed up, and a gold aeormaton who was rocking ever so slightly on a singular wheel. If it wasn’t for the guild emblem stamped on their cards, and the fact some of them seemed to be carrying weapons, he would have found it hard to believe they were members.
‘Well, everything seems to be in order here. Remember, keep any trouble out of the city and be on your guard, we’ve had an increase in petty thefts of late. Aside from that, enjoy your time here’.
‘Thank you that is most appreciated’, the purple haired girl drawled as she took back the papers, ‘Have a good morning, and we’ll keep an eye out for those thieves you mentioned’.
Gregor gave a curt nod and watched them walk through the gates. As the goat lady strolled past, she seemed to stumble and he reached out to stop her falling.
‘Careful ma’am, wouldn’t want you hurting yourself’.
Fluttering her eyelashes she smiled sweetly, ‘Thank you, and I promise I will. I must just be tired from the long journey’.
Suddenly, her halfing friend appeared and grabbed her hand, ‘Come on Fearne, the others are getting ahead of us’’.
As he started to pull her away, Fearne gave Gregor a wink before letting herself be dragged away. Shaking himself, Gregor turned back to the next group, ready to take their papers.
As Orym and Fearne entered the city, the noise of the early morning rush hit them. Small market stalls were busy being set up, vendors shouting over to one another as they got ready for the day. They could already smell the sizzling meat being prepared, the spices suffusing the otherwise earthy smell of the city. Children ran through the streets laughing and squealing, satchels banging on their legs, clearly on their way to lessons while other denizens of the city leapt out of their way. Races of all kinds filled the city, and there were more entering through the various gates of the city. By now, the sun had risen and its warm light reflected off the windows of storefronts and houses that lined the streets before them. In-between in the alleys, Orym even caught a few drunks still recovering from the night before in the tavern.
Glancing through the crowd, Orym spotted their friends and as they hurried to join them he hissed at Fearne, ‘A guard, really? We’ve only just got back, what if you’d been caught?’.
‘Hmm..’, Fearne said absent-mindedly as she looked over the small pocket-watch she’d taken from the guard, ‘Oh, well I’m sure we’d have thought of something. Besides, isn’t this just a delightful little watch’.
‘It might be lovely, but I don’t think it’s lovely enough to risk getting arrested. And put it away’, Orym looked around quickly to see if anyone had spotted them, ‘You never know who’s watching’’.
‘I was being careful though’, Fearne grumbled as she stuffed the watch down her bosom, ‘And besides he didn’t notice a thing so it’s fine’.
‘Look Fearne I’m just saying…’.
‘Saying what?’.
By now they’d caught up with the others, so in desperation Orym called out, ‘Dorian, back me up here please’.
The air genasi shook his head as they pulled up alongside him, ‘Fearne, have you been stealing again? Honestly didn’t you hear what that guard said, what if he thought you were the person stealing from all those people?’.
‘We’ve not been in town for days though’, she pointed out.
‘Well yes, but that’s not the point’, Dorain sighed, but from the gleam in Fearne’s eyes at her new prize he knew it was pointless ‘Just be careful ok’.
‘Ok, ok’
‘Gods, I thought that job would never end’, Imogen said, breaking up the trio’s conversation, ‘I think I’ve discovered a whole new way to hurt’.
‘I know, but isn’t it wonderful to be home after so long’, Laudna exclaimed, hooking her arm through Imogen’s as they made their way to the guild hall,‘ It will be so nice to see everybody’.
‘Yeah, real fucking nice’, Ashton grinned, ‘I’m pretty sure one of the guys owes me a drink, and after the past week I could really fucking use one right now’.
‘Well we do have to see Mr Bell first, after all we need to make sure the job is fully completed’, FCG reminded them..
‘True, but after that I’m down for some drinks and maybe something extra’, Chetney piped up, with a glance over to Fearne who laughed, ‘‘These old bones need some serious care right now’.
The group groaned.
‘You have the energy for that?’, Dorian grimaced.
‘I do. Some of us’, Chetney said, glared pointedly at Dorian, ‘Just have a stronger constitution than others’.
‘Well, I don’t know if my constitution could stand up to yours Chetney, you’ve had much longer to build it up than me’, Fearne said with a laugh.
‘You know it baby’, Chetney grinned wickedly.
‘Anyway’, Orym interrupted before the flirting got any worse, ‘What are we going to tell Mr Bell? The job didn’t exactly…go to plan’.
‘We still got the job done didn’t we, don’t see why he needs to know all the details’, Ashton pulled a hunk of bread from his bag and took a bite, ‘All we need to say is the client got his stuff back and we left everyone happy’.
‘I don’t think everyone was happy. Certainly the young man we injured in our pursuit had some grievances’, Dorian countered.
‘FCG did heal him though, and we apologised’.
‘It’s true, and I always say an apology is just as good as any medicine when you’ve hurt someone’, FCG nodded.
‘No, Dorian’s right Laudna’, Imogen sighed, ‘It wouldn’t surprise me if word had been sent back already, but I also think we don’t need to go into too much detail. Just say we ran into some issues but the job got done. Everyone happy with that?’.
The group mumbled their assent, and soon enough they were at the front door of the guild.
At two-storeys tall, the guild hall wasn’t particularly impressive, and time had left its mark. Greenery peeked out of cracks in the wall and under window sills, the simple deep-oak facade weathered and worn. The door was slightly scuffed, and if you looked carefully enough one might notice a few tiles missing from the roof.
In contrast, the burgundy sign hanging above the door positively gleamed. Polished at least once a week by an unlucky member, the sign had the guild emblem carved into it. Created by the founder of the guild, it bore a golden bell with two shortswords crossing behind it and in an elegant scroll beside it ran the guild’s name.
As the group entered, they were immediately struck by the sight of a crowd milling about the main hall. People of all races were congregating round a massive board, jostling for a place up front. Only a few people were sat in the general area, watching on with amusement.
‘Hey, Jerrard’, Ashton called out to a half-orc nursing a beer, ‘What the hell’s going on?’.
‘Haven’t you heard? Some new client is in town, and all these idiots are trying to get their hands on the job posting’, Jerrard snickered as he took a sip of his beer, ‘Apparently this guy is loaded, and he’s not afraid to spend his money when he wants something done’.
‘I can see why that would cause so much excitement’, Laudna said, ‘But surely it will already have been taken at this point?’.
‘Ah you’d think so, but he seems a bit eccentric this fella’.
‘Eccentric? In what way?’, FCG asked curiously.
‘Well, you see’, Jerrard leaned forward, drawing them all in, ‘This job he wants doing is highly dangerous, to the extent that even the guildmaster wasn’t too keen on taking it’.
‘Really, it was too much for Bell?’, Chetney gave a low whistle, ‘It must be bad then’.
‘Uh-huh’, Jerrard continued, ‘No idea what it is, but the reward speaks for itself. Anyway, this client is adamant it needs to be someone from our guild, he won’t accept any less. So he struck a deal with Bell. He’ll run a tournament to find the strongest fighters, and whoever wins gets to go’.
‘Ah I think I get it now’, Orym looked over to the board again, ‘There’s a sign-up sheet on the board isn’t there?’.
‘Bingo’, Jerrard tapped the side of his nose, ‘Been up since 6 this morning and I reckon half the guild has already put their names to it’.
‘Half the guild?’, Imogen gasped, ‘That must be at least 50 people’.
‘Surely a tournament with that many people would take far too long?’, Dorian said, ‘And that’s not even taking into account that there’s still people signing up’.
‘You have a point air-boy’, Jerrard grinned as Dorian scowled at him, ‘That’s why this tournament is for a group of fighters. Maximum of 8 people to keep things fair, and only 10 teams will take part’.
‘8 people? Hmmm…’, Ashton thought for a moment, ‘How much is this reward again?’.
Jerrard grinned even wider, ‘10,000 platinum all together’.
‘10,000 platinum!’, Ashton turned to the rest of the group, ‘We’re fucking doing this’.
‘Shouldn’t we talk this out first, make sure everybody’s on board…’, FCG began, but Ashton had already started to muscle their way through the crowd.
‘Ashton!’, Fearne shouted after him, ‘Hold on a moment’.
Quickly looking back over their shoulder he shouted back, ‘Come on guys, I’m sure it will be fun, beside don’t tell me none of you need the fucking cash’’.
Laudna started to raise her hand, but dropped it when Imogen gave her a look, ‘I suppose it can’t hurt’, she said hesitantly.
‘No, and there’s no guarantee we’ll win anyway’, Orym glanced up to Dorian who simply gave a shrug, ‘I could use the practice at any rate’.
‘That’s the spirit Orym’, Chetney whooped, who looked just as excited as Ashton, ‘We’ll kick all these idiots behinds’.
Fearne clapped her hands in delight, ‘This is so exciting’.
Soon enough, Ashton found themselves in front of the board. He could see already that there was only one slot left. Barging aside a small tiefling woman, he snatched up the pencil hanging next to the sheet and scribbled all their names down.
And with that, they had just entered the biggest tournament ever held by Bell’s Hells, not knowing that this simple act was about to change all of their lives forever.